After considering adding air conditioning to my Westy for years, I decided it was time. Got a couple estimates and the lowest one came from the company who designed this specific AC system so I took it to Small Car. When I was told it was completed, I saw it work in the shop and left for home. The next day I inspected their work and found the glove compartment rubbing on one side, the center interior trip piece was loosely installed making my cup holders inoperable and the new stereo they installed was hooked up wrong. I called to make appointment to take it back. After a couple hours, I was on my way with everything fixed. So, a little sloppy at initial pickup but fixed quickly. Now I'm looking forward to Spring road trips! read more

Very complete explanations of what's needed or recommended. Nice people. Familiar and experienced with every aspect of VWs and Subaru conversion. read more

My local VW garage told me my 89 VW Vanagon with a Subaru motor had transaxle seals that were leaking, and most likely needed an expensive and time consuming transaxle rebuild. A friend in our Oregon Bus Club recommended Small Car Performance to rebuild the transaxle. When I called, Mark told me they really couldn't tell me anything about my van until they inspected it, but their company specialized in Subaru Vanagon conversions, and they had a local guy who does their transaxle rebuilds. Mark also estimated less than 2 weeks for their repairs. After dropping off my Van, I was phoned the NEXT DAY and told my transaxle was performing perfectly, and only needed new seals. My power steering pump was also leaking, so they replaced that. All repairs cost me less than 2K, which I thought was a bargain. I'd recommend Small Car Performance to anyone! --Jay Whaley Springfield, OR read more

Small Car Performance upgraded our stock Syncro engine to a Subaru EJ253. The Vanagon received a complete inspection before work began resulting in a detailed list prioritizing repairs from required to recommended. They handled fixing these repairs as we directed. Communication throughout the process was outstanding - clear, timely and well documented. The conversion was completed in the timeframe given. We are very pleased with the additional power and now have no problem keeping up with traffic. This makes for a less stressful driving experience. Adding the in-dash AC made driving more comfortable and enjoyable. Steering and alignment repairs provided for significantly better handling. We have added nearly 5k miles since the upgrade and would highly recommend SCP for both engine conversions and general repairs. read more

Small Car Performance lacks quality controls in its shop, consequently their work lacks the degree of excellence one would expect from such a high priced shop. My experience, I paid for a 'factory rebuilt' Subaru 2.5. and a rear disk brake kit installation. Picking up the car, I immediately noticed the shifting linkage was dangerously sloppy. The shifting worked perfectly before the installation of the engine. The owner insisted that the problem existed in the transmission, even though the transmission was recently overhauled by Go-Westy. I took the car to Peace Vans and the linkage adjustment was performed in two hours. The first quality control failure. I also ordered the rear disk brake kit. A spacer was omitted in the disk brakes, causing damage to the disks within 100 miles. The second quality failure. Warranty? Worthless. I've never received any communication about resolving issues or repairing the van. I did get an email with excuses justifying the poor quality oversight and work. The van goes back to Peace vans, who informed me of the missing spacer. A two hour fix and the brakes are repaired. Thinking the van is ready for a small trip, I find out that the new 'rebuilt engine' is leaking 1/2 quart of oil per fill up (280 miles).Third and most dangerous quality escape! How does an error that large happen from a 'factory rebuilt' engine? Warranty? The owner refused my phone calls and to offer any assistance in fixing the so-called 'rebuilt engine'. Back to Peace Vans, only to find out that two bolts housing the oil pump were never installed. What the heck!! I'm giving this a five star rating so that people have the opportunity to hear a recent story of working with this shop. I suggest that you read the one star remarks and you will discover a common thread regarding overpriced parts, selling services that aren't solicited, and the lack of quality workmanship. I found the owner to be condescending, untrustworthy, and a person that lacks respect for people, especially people of color. I'm taking my van to Peace Vans in Seattle from now on. They are an honest and reliable shop that performs quality work and is respectful to their customers. read more

Thrilled with the communication and quality of work in a timely manner at Small Car. Recently had dash work, brakes, and a dozen tiny things handled and love my Van now!!! read more

Small Car Performance - Short trip to Cape Flattery. Vanagon ran fantastic!!! - Auto Repair Near Me - Fife, Washington

Smallcar is a VERY profitable business. They know that you know nothing about your Vanagon or the parts involved and they completely intend on exploiting this. They will call you cheap and use pretty interesting psychology to try to get you to spend WAY more on your 40 year old van than you should. Read the reviews of their parts online...they're really really not good despite their crazy prices. Four years ago I brought my 1987 Westfalia with a 1993 Subaru ej22 in to Smallcar for a muffler.  Prior to this it was very reliable and had recently made 4 trips up and down from Vancouver to San Diego and back...no running issues beyond the muffler.  Andy worked up a dizzying quote for $11K for a whole lot of things I didn't even bring it in for but wasn't totally against, but he wasn't very flexible with how I wanted the suspension set up (not that we were talking about suspension at the time).  While it was there they installed their $950 cast aluminum oil pan (more on that later).  Also some mystery issue showed up with the fuel system that somehow magically disappeared once it was towed back to my house, but I digress...ultimately I felt like I wasn't being listened to so thought it was time to try a different shop. It went from Smallcar, to El at Stargazers Garage in Portland.  She's a whole other bag of crazy and hacked my van apart for four months and $12K in parts and labor, then accused me of being a chauvinist (I think I was getting her/his/? Pronoun incorrect but I'm 100% sure what I did to piss El off...Portland) and she demanded I tow my beloved camper out of there.  Heartbroken, the van then sat for several years. Having just sold my house, I decided I'd throw a bag of money at this silly van I love so much and convert it to a syncro.  Smallcar was under new ownership and I'd talked to Austin quite a bit who sounded like a smart and reasonable guy, so I decided to ship it back.  We didn't get very far. The syncro quote got dizzyingly expensive...like $35K - $45K, (which was already odd seeing as everything under the van is new / same parts and the syncro bits so that idea got ditched pretty quick.  So lets just focus on the hard start problem, making sure the suspension won't fall apart, and to replace the rear brakes and carrier bearings because they were the only things not already replaced under there. Andy insisted the $200 rear drums couldn't be obtained (odd...it's the same drum brakes on every VW van from 1968 to about 1992 and they're very available) so I'd have to use their $2500 disk brake.  Not wanting to add more complexity to my already Frankenstein van, opted out of this. Andy also refused...REFUSED to commence any work on the hard start problem (runs GREAT when running, starts hard) until he replaced my leaking cracked oil pan at a $950 expense.  Funny, because he's the one that put that one on 4 years ago and the van hasn't been drivable since then so it's either Smallcar's pan that failed, or andy put it on wrong and cracked it, but either way it's their mistake.  I wasn't even asking for a new pan, I was just saying I didn't want to spend another $950 on that particular engine before establishing it can be made to start easier. Austin actually called me a penny pincher (his actual words) and doubled down on their refusal to work on the van until I replaced it.  Forgive me, but I don't want to spend another $950 on an oil pan that is clearly flawed and that he should really just replace with no cost.  But no, it became an argument, they said "it's below their standards" to let it leak but it's their poor standards that got it leaking.  Unwilling to be bullied, towing my van out of there for a second time. I think the whole #vanlife online thing has made people stupid about vanagons.  They were bad vehicles 40 years ago, and now they're 40 years old so they need everything.  Nobody is willing to work on them, so the few shops like Smallcar and Stargazers see dollar signs in them.  They can treat their customers however they want and charge CRAZY prices for things and customers just take it. Austin actually told me it could cost $10,000 to sort out my 1993 Subaru ej22 engine and I should just expect that.  The sad and stupid thing is there's so many people in the Seattle area that have money and don't understand cars, there's a line of people waiting for bays in his shop that will pay huge money for bad solutions and not understand they're getting swindled. I've literally owned 100's of cars.  Several old Ferraris, dozens of vintage BMW's and Mercedes...I've fully restored probably two dozen cars in the last 35 years.  I've never seen prices or treatment of customers like I have in the Vanagon space. read more

I would DEEPLY question Small Car's reviews. I wrote this review after the most horrific experience one could experience with a mechanic, and somehow they got it deleted. So here it is again: We took our van to them for a hard start problem. A simple problem for our subaru ej22 powered 1987 Westy. They insisted it could cost $10K to sort out, and that we should just sell them our van. When we didn't want to sell them our van, and after paying $1200 for work we didn't even ask for, the owner pushed it into the street so the tow yard across the street would impound it. The dispatcher told us that the owner of the tow yard and the owner of small car are friends so small car could now buy our van from the tow yard. THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. We have it all in texts and e-mails, plus the receipts from the tow yard. So our van was brought to someone honest and guess what? Our hard start problem was a $164 fuel pressure regulator that took a half hour to fix. read more

This used to be a quality shop when Brian owned it. Now it takes forever to get an appointment and my car comes back with more problems than it went in with. Headlights that are disconnected, used parts substituted for new, tools left in the car, incorrect diagnosis, the list goes on and on. They just don't do quality work. read more

New owners have completely turned this shop around. They are well deserving of a perfect rating. Austin and his team are exceptional. It's one thing to be comprehensively knowledgeable about all things VW it's an entire other endeavor to smash great customer service and efficient timeframe. I've now dealt with small car performance on two separate occasions over the past year and couldn't be more pleased if someone left me a bathtub full of puppies. read more

Among the most reputable VW/Subaru conversion shops in the US is Small Car Performance. I have such a vehicle, and as I was driving north I stopped there to do an oil change and check out the operation. I was blown away at the hospitality and knowledge of the owner, Brian. He gave us the full tour. I'll be taking my Westfalia there for front end work, a replacement refrigerator, auxiliary battery and servicing. The crew is great - I highly recommend SCP. read more

I bought a small car kit several years ago to install a '04 forester xt 2.5 turbo in a 1985 vw vanagon westfalia. I sourced the motor prior to purchasing the kit. Good decision, because engine is specific to kits. The engine came out of a running car i seen run in a video prior to part out. I put the engine and kit in container because life got busy, I moved shops etc and it went to the back burner. Last year i got the motor out of container and pulled motor out of vanagon. I did not rebuild motor but cleaned it up, also installed new water pump and timing belt kit, new intake tube to turbo that runs under intake, intake manifold gaskets and new plastic timing belt covers. I did put a new power steering pump, turbo, and alternator on it as well. I was missing some stuff from the donor engine that I had to source to get it to work, like a non turbo fly wheel, I was not aware of this but small car answered the phone and put me in the right direction when I needed them to. Fast forward to this year. Last week I got a lot of the swap done and was able to start engine. Building wiring harness was no joke. At this time small car was also able to assist me with some info I wasn't clear on, wasn't much because I been a mechanic my whole life. They sent me Subaru prints with the swap kit with decent instructions and an interface to keep check engine light off, for things not used like fuel temp senders etc. I picked a turbo swap and when I did they informed me it was more advanced then the other swaps because I couldn't buy a harness and I had to make some of my own exhaust and wing a few things. I don't get the bad reviews I see about them. Doing a motor swap like this is not like changing brakes or swapping parts. Building a custom harness took me about 24-32 hours and I still gotta button it up. I am thankful that there are places making swap parts like this and there are shops passionate about Vanagons. read more

Small Car Performance, especially Warren, went the extra mile for us with outstanding customer service. We have an old VW camper van and drove it across the country. The speed sensor failed, which resulted in sudden loss of power at freeway speeds. Small Car Performance had one in stock and express mailed it to us, so we could return home on schedule. We had not used this company before, but now we will be customers in the future. Thank you!! You saved us from a miserable 3000+ mile trip home. read more

NOTHING bad to say about small car performance. These guys are on spot, and know their Vanagon's. they are always upfront with you, and even if something comes up they call and explain everything.. it's an amazing difference from being left in the dark.. besides being Vanagon guys, they are cool, they are friendly and funny and always business. like most of us Vanagon owners, we've test ran quite a few places around town.. small car is the place to go if you want quality work done, fair prices, no BS, and no hidden fees added to your bill.. it's been a pleasure working with them, and we love the work they've done to our vehicle.. can't say enough good things about them.. not sure about any of these bad reviews, and if you look at my other reviews, i'm not afraid to be fully honest about a place. perhaps someone felt dooped, but i can't see how these guys could make anyone feel less than part of the family.. unless out of area incident occurs, no one will work on my van other than these guys.. I've had extensive work done too, close to a restore some are telling me, but not a single complaint.. they are on it.. read more

I have purchased multiple parts from Small Car performance. I find the negative reviews hard to believe being mechanical and knowing many in the Vanagon community. After multiple experiences I find them to be about as good as you get and meticulous with their products. Furthermore when there are issues as there are with anything mechanical, let alone Vanagons, they have been so forthright and honest about issues that it is truly refreshing. Vanagons and perfect are an oxymoron and having just blown an EJ22 due to a non-Small car oil pan I wish I had gone to them a lot earlier. A dear friend spent a good deal with them and could not be happier. Wonderful people and thank you for your help, again today!! read more

My vanagon had an engine fire. I had it towed to Small Car Performance. Brian and staff were great to work with!! They worked with my insurance company, kept me updated, and even were able to quote and fix a few other things that needed to be repaired on my van. I appreciate the quality service and will definitely recommend their shop! Very happy with the results! read more

I took my Westy into Small Car after I had installed an SVX 3.3L Subaru engine. I could not get it running right for months and they offered to trouble shoot it. Their techs and a Subaru specialist worked long and hard finding the problems. My Westy was not going to be worth much unless the engine was running. It now runs and drives great because of Small Car's good work. Christmas 2017 and Small Car gave me a miracle on 34th Ave.!! Thank you Brian, Andy and everyone that helped me get back on the road. read more

My wife and I have taken our 1991 Vanagon Westfalia here for years. Small Car Performance fixed thngs that even the VW dealer couldn't fix. Several years ago, Small Car Performance replaced our VW engine with a Subaru engine--a job that has given us great satisfaction Although we live in Seattle, we are willng to drive to Tacoma to have Small Car work on our van. The diagnoses and repairs have always been perfect read more

They did make it right. I do feel like it was a bit pricey and the attention to detail should have been done at the beginning. I will probably end up doing any other work needed on the Auto Skill Center on Fort Lewis or Mccord....which as everything you could possibly want. These guys are garbage. They do not make the Vanagon community look good. I took my 86 Weekender automatic transmission in to have the transmission looked at and have the van given a once over before I take it on a long road trip to California. I just bought her about 6 months ago and I am in no means a mechanic. I also asked if they could replace my sliding door handle and rear view mirror, which they said was no problem they had some used ones at the shop and install a house battery, which they did. They called me and said that the transmission had metal flakes in it and needed a new rebuilt one...which was $2000 for just the tranny...not doing my research (which is my own fault) I later found plenty of local shops with great reviews that specifically rebuild Vanagon transmissions for around 1000-1400. They said my alternator was starting to go, so they replaced that...I did notice the flickering battery light. The heater was always staying on...so they replaced the valve. Total price for everything over $4000. Upon picking it up I notice that the neither the sliding door handle nor the rear view mirror is replaced. So I go back into ask them about it...and seems that no one wrote it on the paper and no one seems to remember that being talked about...when 3 people where there, 2 of which where there at check out. So driving home I now notice my gas pedal is all wobbly which was never like that before. Then the following day I say, hey...let me check the simple stuff every person should probably know how to check...spare tire(which is under the cab)...FLAT! Oil...very low...over a quart! There are metal shavings all over the rear passanger area of the vehicle from where they put the 12v outlet in. These guys are garbage. And unless the $3000 dollar transmission fails...I will never go back to this place! read more

Previously I had taken my 84 Westfalia to North Westy and had a horrible experience. Spending a large amount of $$$ and receiving subpar work can make anyone a little nervous when trusting their vehicle to any mechanic. Brian at Small Car has been great. Willing to answer my plethora of questions and willing to walk me through what work they are doing and what I can expect from my investment. If I had any critique of their work, it would be cleaning up after the work was finished (I had dirty fingerprints and sawdust/metal shavings from installs) and communication (was told my van would be done on a Monday, but called late Monday and was told they hadn't touched my van since Friday, so I could have picked it up earlier then I was told). But those are minor things when the customer service is beyond helpful and the work done is excellent. read more

I had Small Car replace my stock engine with a 2008 2,5 Subaru engine. They did it in record time. I left the day after receiving the car back on a 4000 mile road trip. I have no problems to report. I have been a mechanic/tech for 35 years and now to old to do my own heavy work. It's not a cheap shop but you get what you pay for. I will go back. I rate them an A+. read more

Worst place ever! These guys are not supportive on there products they sell what so ever! They install motors that there not completely 100% confident on the swap!! They installed a Subaru diesel into my van and when I took the vehicle into higher elevations there was no turbo I found out that the computer programmer for them no longer supports small car read more

I had read the good reviews for Small Car so, even though they were 1.5 hours away I figured I'd give them a shot. I needed the gas tank sealed, front heater valve replaced, upgrade rear brakes, and possibly new coolant pipes. I dropped it off on a weekend for a week due to the distance. They determined the coolant pipes didn't need to be replaced and instead cleaned a mouse next out of the dash and heater box instead. When I picked it up the following weekend, the lights had been left on so the battery was dead. All of the screws and washers for the dash were not install but rather found in the cup holder and on the floor mats. Wires were left visible and hanging out of the fuse block and instrument cluster and the analog clock was no longer working. The stereo was not installed back into the dash and not all of the stereo cables were reattached. The choke cable knob was missing and quite a bit of dirt was left on the floor mats. After jumping the car and getting it back home I discovered of the next few weeks that the gas tank was still leaking, the heater valve was leaking more than it did before they replaced it. I let them know all of this and they asked that I bring it back in and "make it right" for me. They couldn't take care of it immediately so, I scheduled again 4 weeks out to leave it there for a week again. I've had the van back for a little over a month now and the heater valve is not leaking, the gas tank still leaks a small amount when filled full, the clock works, and now a new problem is they forgot to reattach the fresh air vent tubing to both the vents in the dash and the connections in the dash. I'll have to take the dash apart to fix that now. So, thousands of dollars and four 3 hour round trips later (all with wife and three kids under 5), the van is still not as it should be. I wish they had lived up to their review as I was looking for a shop that could perform many other upgrades I'll be looking to do over the next few years. I guess I'll keep looking. read more

I was driving in the area late Friday night and broke down on the highway. Called Small Car and they voluntered to stay late and help unload the van and get it inside the locked gates for safety. I had been thinking about doing the brake upgrade for a while and asked if they could do it while the van was there. Even though they were busy, they agreed. Had to call in an extra mechanic to make it all happen but acted like it was just another day. The repairs were done quickly and they even found some loose wires on the starter that they fixed for free "just because we were there already". Great service, I have found my new place for any work I'll have done on the van. read more

Competent, honest, service oriented- this shop is the total package! Highly recommend. The Northwest seems to be the spawning grounds of the Vanagon, and this shop knows how to keep them on the road. From Brian, the long time VW guru and rare owner who will make it right, to Nathan, the front of the business who embodies customer service and charm, to Chad, the pitboss, and Mao, the brains of the whole thing, this shop is worth the drive from Bellingham to Eugene. I would not trust my vanagon, or my loved ones safety, to anyone else. Fair estimates, excellent service, and good vibes. Only freshly baked chocolate chip cookies would make this a better place! read more